Tai Tham alphabet

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For the Unicode block, see Tai Tham (Unicode block).
Tai Tham
Tai Tham script sample.png
Type
Languages Northern Thai, Tai Lü, Khün
Time period
 c. 1300–present
Parent systems
Direction Left-to-right
ISO 15924 Lana, 351
Unicode alias
 Tai Tham
U+1A20–U+1AAF
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

The Tai Tham script (Lanna: ᨲ᩠ᩅᩫᨾᩮᩥᩬᨦ, Northern Thai pronunciation: [tǔa.mɯ̄aŋ] About this sound listen, tua mueanɡ; Tai Lü: ᨲᩫ᩠ᩅᨵᨾ᩠ᨾ᩼ , Tham, "scripture"), also known as the Lanna script or Tua Mueang, is used for three living languages: Northern Thai (that is, Kham Mueang), Tai Lü and Khün. In addition, the Lanna script is used for Lao Tham (or old Lao) and other dialect variants in Buddhist palm leaves and notebooks. The script is also known as Tham or Yuan script.

The Northern Thai language is a close relative of Thai and member of the Chiang Saeng language family. It is spoken by nearly 6,000,000 people in Northern Thailand and several thousand in Laos of whom few are literate in Lanna script. The script is still read by older monks. Northern Thai has six linguistic tones and Thai only five, making transcription into the Thai alphabet problematic. There is some resurgent interest in the script among younger people, but an added complication is that the modern spoken form, called Kammuang, differs in pronunciation from the older form.[1] There are 670,000 speakers of Tai Lü of whom those born before 1950 are literate in Lanna script.[citation needed] The script has also continued to be taught in the monasteries. There are 120,000 speakers of Khün for which Lanna is the only script.

Name board outside a Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai written with Lanna characters: Wat Mokhamtuang (and street number 119 in Thai)

Consonants[edit]

Consonants are divided into two groups: main consonants (พยัญชนะหลัก) and added consonants (พยัชนะเติม). There are 33 main consonants, and there are 15 added consonants. The main consonants are those from Pali. The main consonant group is further divided into two groups: categorized (พยัญชนะวัคค์, vagga) and uncategorized consonants (พยัญชนะอวัคค์, avagga). There are 25 categorized consonants, and there are 8 uncategorized consonants. The added consonant group consists of consonants that have been added to write Tai sounds that do not occur in Pali.

Categorized
Obstruents Nasals
main added main added main added main
Lanna-1.png
kǎ
/k/
hiɡh		 Lanna-2.png
khǎ
/x/
hiɡh		 Lanna-3.png
khǎ
/x/
hiɡh		 Lanna-4.png
ka᷇
/k/
low		 Lanna-5.png
kha᷇
/x/
low		 Lanna-6.png
kha᷇
/x/
low		 Lanna-7.png
nga᷇
/ŋ/
low
Lanna-8.png
chǎ
/t͡ɕ/
hiɡh		 Lanna-9.png
sǎ
/s/
hiɡh		 Lanna-10.png
cha᷇
/t͡ɕ/
low		 Lanna-11.png
sa᷇
/s/
low		 Lanna-12.png, Lanna-jh-Lue.png
sa᷇
/s/
low		 Lanna-13.png
nya᷇
/ɲ/
low
Lanna-14.png
la tǎ
/t/
hiɡh		 Lanna-15.png, Lanna-ratha-Lue.png
la thǎ
/tʰ/
hiɡh		 Lanna-17.png
da᷇
/d/
mid		 Lanna-15-5.png
la tha᷇
/tʰ/
low		 Lanna-16.png
la na᷇
/n/
low
Lanna-18.png
tǎ
/t/
hiɡh		 Lanna-19.png
thǎ
/tʰ/
hiɡh		 Lanna-20.png
ta᷇
/t/
low		 Lanna-21.png
tha᷇
/tʰ/
low		 Lanna-22.png
na᷇
/n/
low
Lanna-23.png
bǎ
/b/
mid		 Lanna-24.png
pǎ
/p/
hiɡh		 Lanna-25.png
phǎ
/pʰ/
hiɡh		 Lanna-26.png
fǎ
/f/
hiɡh		 Lanna-27.png
pa᷇
/p/
low		 Lanna-28.png
fa᷇
/f/
low		 Lanna-29.png
pha᷇
/pʰ/
low		 Lanna-30.png
ma᷇
/m/
low
Uncategorized
Lanna-31.png
nya᷇
/ɲ/
low		 Lanna-44.png
yá
/j/
mid		 Lanna-32.png
ha᷇
/h/
low		 Lanna-33.png
la᷇
/l/
low		 Lanna-34.png
wa᷇
/w/
low
Lanna-35.png
sǎ
/s/
hiɡh		 Lanna-36.png
sǎ
/s/
hiɡh		 Lanna-37.png
sǎ
/s/
hiɡh
Lanna-38.png
hǎ
/h/
hiɡh		 Lanna-39.png
la᷇
/l/
low		 Lanna-40.png, Lanna-a.png
ǎ
/ʔ/
mid		 Lanna-41.png
ha᷇
/h/
low
Lanna-lae.png, Lanna-lae-Lue.png
lāe
/lɛ̄ː/		 Lanna-na.png
nā
/nāː/		 Lanna-ss.png
sǒr sǒnɡ ho᷇nɡ
/sɔ̌ː sɔ̌ːŋ hɔ᷇ːŋ/		 Lanna-nyny.png
nya᷇ nya᷇
/ɲa᷇ʔ ɲa᷇ʔ/		 Lanna-rarong.png
ra rōnɡ
/la᷇.hōːŋ/
Lanna-42.png
lu᷇e
/lɯ᷇ʔ/		 Lanna-43.png
lūe
/lɯ̄ː/

Vowels[edit]

Northern Thai language written in Tai Tham script in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Vowels are written at various locations around their consonant, like Thai.[2] There are special letters for initial vowels, and many vowel combinations.

Pali vowels[edit]

Tai Tham Lanna-40.png - Lanna-aa.png Lanna-Pali-i.png Lanna-Pali-ii.png Lanna-Pali-u.png Lanna-Pali-uu.png Lanna-Pali-e.png Lanna-e.png -Lanna-aa.png
ᩋ -ᩣ ᩍ ᩎ ᩏ ᩐ ᩑ -ᩮᩣ,-ᩮᩤ, ᩒ
IPA /ʔáʔ/ /ʔāː/ /ʔíʔ/ /ʔīː/ /ʔúʔ/ /ʔūː/ /ʔēː/ /ʔōː/

Tonal markers[edit]

Lanna-tone1.png
mai yo
/máj.jɔ́ʔ/		 Lanna-tone2.png
mai kho chang
/máj.xɔ̌ː.t͡ɕáːŋ/

Tai Tham and Other Scripts[edit]

Categorized letters[edit]

Tai Tham Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/ká/ Lanna-1.png ᨠ -᩠ᨠ ก ກ က ក
/xá/ Lanna-2.png ᨡ -᩠ᨡ ข ຂ ခ ខ
/xá/ Lanna-3.png ᨢ - ฃ
/ka᷇/ Lanna-4.png ᨣ -᩠ᨣ ค ຄ ဂ គ
/xa᷇/ Lanna-5.png ᨤ - ฅ
/xa᷇/ Lanna-6.png ᨥ -᩠ᨥ ฆ Lao-Pali-gh.png ဃ ឃ
/ŋa᷇/ Lanna-7.png ᨦ -᩠ᨦ ง ງ င ង
Tai Tham Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/t͡ɕá/ Lanna-8.png ᨧ -᩠ᨧ จ ຈ စ ច
/sá/ Lanna-9.png ᨨ -᩠ᨨ ฉ Lao-Pali-ch.png ဆ ឆ
/t͡ɕa᷇/ Lanna-10.png ᨩ -᩠ᨩ ช ຊ ဇ ជ
/sa᷇/ Lanna-11.png ᨪ - ซ
/sa᷇/ Lanna-12.png ᨫ -᩠ᨫ ฌ Lao-Pali-jh.png ဈ ឈ
/ɲa᷇/
/ja᷇/[3]		 Lanna-13.png ᨬ -᩠ᨬ ญ Lao-Pali-ny.png ည ញ
Tai Tham Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/tá/ Lanna-14.png ᨭ -᩠ᨭ ฏ Lao-Pali-T.png ဋ ដ
/tʰá/ Lanna-15.png ᨮ -᩠ᨮ ฐ Lao-Pali-Th.png ဌ ឋ
/dá/ Lanna-17.png ᨯ -᩠ᨯ ฑ,ด Lao-Pali-D.png,ດ ဍ ឌ
/tʰa᷇/ Lanna-15-5.png ᨰ -᩠ᨰ ฒ Lao-Pali-Dh.png ဎ ឍ
/na᷇/ Lanna-16.png ᨱ -᩠ᨱ ณ Lao-Pali-N.png ဏ ណ
Tai Tham Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/tá/ Lanna-18.png ᨲ -᩠ᨲ ต ຕ တ ត
/tʰá/ Lanna-19.png ᨳ -᩠ᨳ ถ ຖ ထ ថ
/ta᷇/ Lanna-20.png ᨴ -᩠ᨴ ท ທ ဒ ទ
/tʰa᷇/ Lanna-21.png ᨵ -᩠ᨵ ธ Lao-Pali-dh.png ဓ ធ
/na᷇/ Lanna-22.png ᨶ -᩠ᨶ น ນ န ន
Tai Tham Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/bá/ Lanna-23.png ᨷ -᩠ᨷ บ ບ ပ ប
/pá/ Lanna-24.png ᨸ - ป ປ
/pʰá/ Lanna-25.png ᨹ -᩠ᨹ ผ ຜ ဖ ផ
/fá/ Lanna-26.png ᨺ - ฝ ຝ
/pa᷇/ Lanna-27.png ᨻ -᩠ᨻ พ ພ ဗ ព
/fa᷇/ Lanna-28.png ᨼ - ฟ ຟ
/pʰa᷇/ Lanna-29.png ᨽ -᩠ᨽ ภ Lao-Pali-bh.png ဘ ភ
/ma᷇/ Lanna-30.png ᨾ -᩠ᨾ ม ມ မ ម

Uncategorized letters[edit]

Tai Tham Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/ɲa᷇/
/ja᷇/[3]		 Lanna-31.png ᨿ -᩠ᨿ ย ต่ำ ຍ ယ យ
/já/ Lanna-44.png ᩀ - ย กลาง, อย ຢ
/há/
/lá/		 Lanna-32.png ᩁ -᩠ᩁ ร ຣ ရ រ
/lɯ́ʔ/ Lanna-42.png ᩂ - ฤ
/la᷇/ Lanna-33.png ᩃ -᩠ᩃ ล ລ လ ល
/lɯ̄ː/ Lanna-43.png ᩄ - ฦ
/wa᷇/ Lanna-34.png ᩅ -᩠ᩅ ว ວ ဝ វ
Tai Tham Thai Lao Burmese Khmer
IPA Alphabet Subs.
/sá/ Lanna-35.png ᩆ -᩠ᩆ ศ Lao-Sanskrit-sh.png ၐ ឝ
/sá/ Lanna-36.png ᩇ -᩠ᩇ ษ Lao-Sanskrit-S.png ၑ ឞ
/sá/ Lanna-37.png ᩈ -᩠ᩈ ส ສ သ ស
/há/ Lanna-38.png ᩉ -᩠ᩉ ห ຫ ဟ ហ
/la᷇/ Lanna-39.png ᩊ -᩠ᩊ ฬ Lao-Pali-L.png ဠ ឡ
/ʔá/ Lanna-40.png ᩋ -᩠ᩋ อ ອ အ អ
/ha᷇/ Lanna-41.png ᩌ - ฮ ຮ

Numerals[edit]

Arabic numerals 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Hora digits ᪀ ᪁ ᪂ ᪃ ᪄ ᪅ ᪆ ᪇ ᪈ ᪉
Tham digits ᪐ ᪑ ᪒ ᪓ ᪔ ᪕ ᪖ ᪗ ᪘ ᪙
Thai numerals ๐ ๑ ๒ ๓ ๔ ๕ ๖ ๗ ๘ ๙
Lao numerals ໐ ໑ ໒ ໓ ໔ ໕ ໖ ໗ ໘ ໙
Burmese numerals ๐ ၁ ၂ ၃ ၄ ၅ ၆ ၇ ၈ ၉
Khmer numerals ០ ១ ២ ៣ ៤ ៥ ៦ ៧ ៨ ៩

Sanskrit and Pali[edit]

Brahmic scripts
The Brahmic script and its descendants

The Tai Tham script (like all Indic scripts) uses a number of modifications to write Pali and related languages (in particular, Sanskrit). When writing Pali, only 33 consonants and 12 vowels are used.

Plosives (วัคค์ ᩅᩢᨣ᩠ᨣ᩼ vagga)[edit]

class unaspirated
unvoiced
สิถิลอโฆษะ		 aspirated
ธนิตอโฆษะ		 unaspirated
voiced
สิถิลโฆษะ		 aspirated
voiced
ธนิตโฆษะ		 nasal
นาสิก
velar Lanna-1.png ká [ka] Lanna-2.png khá [kha] Lanna-4.png ka᷇ [ga] Lanna-6.png kha᷇ [gha] Lanna-7.png nga᷇ [ṅa]
palatal Lanna-8.png cá [ca] Lanna-9.png sá [cha] Lanna-10.png ca᷇ [ja] Lanna-12.png sa᷇ [jha] Lanna-13.png nya᷇ [ña]
retroflex Lanna-14.png tá [ṭa] Lanna-15.png thá [ṭha] Lanna-17.png da᷇ [ḍa] Lanna-15-5.png tha᷇ [ḍha] Lanna-16.png na᷇ [ṇa]
dental Lanna-18.png tá [ta] Lanna-19.png thá [tha] Lanna-20.png ta᷇ [da] Lanna-21.png tha᷇ [dha] Lanna-22.png na᷇ [na]
labial Lanna-24.png pá [pa] Lanna-25.png phá [pha] Lanna-27.png pa᷇ [ba] Lanna-29.png pha᷇ [bha] Lanna-30.png ma᷇ [ma]
tone class H L

Non-plosives (อวัคค์ ᩋᩅᩢᨣ᩠ᨣ᩼ avagga)[edit]

glottal palatal retroflex dental labial tonal class
Lanna-31.png nya᷇ [ya] Lanna-32.png ha᷇ [ra] Lanna-33.png la᷇ [la] Lanna-34.png wa᷇ [va] L
Lanna-35.png sá [śa] Lanna-36.png sá [ṣa] Lanna-37.png sá [sa] H
Lanna-38.png há [ha]

Unicode[edit]

Tai Tham script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

Block[edit]

Main article: Tai Tham (Unicode block)

The Unicode block for Tai Tham is U+1A20–U+1AAF:

Tai Tham[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1A2x ᨠ ᨡ ᨢ ᨣ ᨤ ᨥ ᨦ ᨧ ᨨ ᨩ ᨪ ᨫ ᨬ ᨭ ᨮ ᨯ
U+1A3x ᨰ ᨱ ᨲ ᨳ ᨴ ᨵ ᨶ ᨷ ᨸ ᨹ ᨺ ᨻ ᨼ ᨽ ᨾ ᨿ
U+1A4x ᩀ ᩁ ᩂ ᩃ ᩄ ᩅ ᩆ ᩇ ᩈ ᩉ ᩊ ᩋ ᩌ ᩍ ᩎ ᩏ
U+1A5x ᩐ ᩑ ᩒ ᩓ ᩔ ᩕ  ᩖ ᩗ  ᩘ  ᩙ  ᩚ  ᩛ  ᩜ  ᩝ  ᩞ
U+1A6x   ᩠  ᩡ  ᩢ ᩣ ᩤ  ᩥ  ᩦ  ᩧ  ᩨ  ᩩ  ᩪ  ᩫ  ᩬ ᩭ ᩮ ᩯ
U+1A7x ᩰ ᩱ ᩲ  ᩳ  ᩴ  ᩵  ᩶  ᩷  ᩸  ᩹  ᩺  ᩻  ᩼  ᩿
U+1A8x ᪀ ᪁ ᪂ ᪃ ᪄ ᪅ ᪆ ᪇ ᪈ ᪉
U+1A9x ᪐ ᪑ ᪒ ᪓ ᪔ ᪕ ᪖ ᪗ ᪘ ᪙
U+1AAx ᪠ ᪡ ᪢ ᪣ ᪤ ᪥ ᪦ ᪧ ᪨ ᪩ ᪪ ᪫ ᪬ ᪭
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 9.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Fonts[edit]

There are currently a few fonts that support this range. Thai people are used to typing the Thai script by placing a front vowel before a consonant; this might cause incorrect input method for Tai Tham script because the consonant must be always typed before the associated vowel, regardless of the relative written position of the vowel, similar to typing the Khmer, Myanmar or Tamil script.

(The following links are from Alan Wood’s Unicode Resources,[4] which is no longer being maintained.[5])

  • Chiangsaen Alif – 318 characters (376 glyphs) in version 1.00 February 24, 2010, initial release
    • Ranges:   Basic Latin (96); Tai Tham (127); Geometric Shapes (1)
    • OpenType layout tables:   Latin
    • Family:   Sans-serif
    • Styles:   Regular
    • Availability:   Free download[6]
  • Lanna Alif – 318 characters (376 glyphs) in version 1.00 February 24, 2010, initial release
    • Ranges:   Basic Latin (96); Tai Tham (127); Geometric Shapes (1)
    • OpenType layout tables:   Latin
    • Family:   Sans-serif
    • Styles:   Regular
    • Availability:   Free download[6]
  • Lanna Unicode UI – 374 characters (487 glyphs) in version 0.40 July 14, 2010
    • Ranges:   Basic Latin (25); Latin-1 Supplement (5); Greek and Coptic (1); Tai Tham (127); Mathematical Operators (1); Geometric Shapes (1)
    • OpenType layout tables:   Latin
    • Family:   Sans-serif
    • Styles:   Regular
    • Availability:   Free download[7]
  • Alan Wood's Tai Tham test page[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Natnapang Burutphakdee (October 2004). Khon Muang Neu Kap Phasa Muang [Attitudes of Northern Thai Youth towards Kammuang and the Lanna Script] (M.A. Thesis). Presented at 4th National Symposium on Graduate Research, Chiang Mai, Thailand, August 10–11, 2004. Asst. Prof. Dr. Kirk R. Person, adviser. Chiang Mai: Payap University. P. 7, digital image 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-06-14. Retrieved June 8, 2013. The reason why they called this language ‘Kammuang’ is because they used this language in the towns where they lived together, which were surrounded by mountainous areas where there were many hill tribe people. 
  2. ^ see examples of syllabic vowels in Ian James' rendition of Lanna, New Lanna at SkyKnowledge.com
  3. ^ a b In Tai Lue
  4. ^ Wood, Alan (15 September 2012). "Southeast Asian Unicode fonts for Windows computers". Alan Wood’s Unicode Resources. Archived from the original on 23 December 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2016. 
  5. ^ Wood, Alan (15 November 2015). "Unicode and multilingual support in HTML, fonts, Web browsers and other applications: Caution and apology". Alan Wood’s Unicode resources. Retrieved 9 May 2016. I regret that I no longer have the time to keep this website up-to-date. The test pages include the Unicode 6.3 characters, and some of the Unicode 7.0 characters, but nothing more recent. The pages of fonts and utilities have not been updated for several years. 
  6. ^ a b Silpachai, Alif. "SIMs Heart". Tai Tham (Lanna) Unicode Font. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016. 
  7. ^ "Download: Tai Tham Fonts (Lanna)". Octra Bond's World. Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 9 May 2016. 
  8. ^ Wood, Alan. "Test for Unicode support in Web browsers: Tai Tham". Alan Wood’s Unicode Resources. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2016. 

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lanna script.
  • ISO/IEC 10646:2003/Amd.5:2008 Universal Multiple-Octet Coded Character Set (UCS) -- Amendment 5: AMENDMENT 5: Tai Tham, Tai Viet, Avestan, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, CJK Unified Ideographs Extension C, and other characters
Overview
Lists
 
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